EVERY December and January the AFL world is awash with news about time trials, personal best times run by players and those that are burning up the track.

AFL Media have decided to determine who is the fastest middle-distance runner in the competition, as if the victors of the time trials run by the 18 AFL clubs were competing in a race over 2km this week.

The difficulty in putting together an exercise like this is emphasised by the fact that clubs are notoriously secretive of the times their players run, desperate not to give opposition teams any competitive advantage.

Some clubs run their time trials over 2km, while others prefer to test their players' endurance over 3km. Geelong now has its players complete a 15-minute run, where the objective is to cover the most amount of distance in that time period.

Others simply don't run any tests, making comparisons between the clubs tough.

However, it is difficult to look past former athlete and Cats midfielder Mark Blicavs as the competition benchmark given his athletics background and some of the numbers he consistently produces in time trial testing.

Greater Western Sydney running machine Tom Scully and Hawthorn wingman Isaac Smith would serve as Blicavs' biggest competition, while West Coast's Chris Masten is also a supreme runner.

Below is our look at Adelaide's time trial king and those retired stars renowned for their efforts across the summer during their careers, and our stab at the top 10.

1. Mark Blicavs (Geel)
2. Tom Scully (GWS)
3. Isaac Smith (Haw)
4. Chris Masten (WCE)
5. Sam Gibson (Adel)
6. Tom Phillips (Coll)
7. Mitch Hibberd (NM)
8. Bradley Hill (Frem)
9. Ed Curnow (Carl)
10. Jarryn Geary (StK)

Former Kangaroo Sam Gibson picked up where he left off at Arden St in winning the Crows' 2km time trial in December, then repeated the dose last week. Jake Kelly and Riley Knight, who beat Kelly in the first-to-fourth-year players' 2km event in late November, were left in Gibson's wake in the most recent time trial.

Previous stars: Nathan van Berlo and Brett Burton were considered time-trial specialists in their time at the club, while current Blue Sam Kerridge ended van Berlo's extended reign – albeit narrowly – with an impressive effort early in 2015.